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11/07/24 11:35 AM IST

A mega dam project in Arunachal Pradesh

In News
  • Two anti-dam activists from Arunachal Pradesh were put in preventive detention recently.
  • The police claimed to have received reports that the duo was “likely to attempt to cause a public order issue.
The Upper Siang project
  • The Upper Siang project is a proposed 11,000 megawatt hydropower project on the Siang river in the Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh.
  • The Siang originates near Mount Kailash in Tibet, where it goes by the name of Tsangpo.
  • It traverses more than 1,000 km eastward, before forming a horseshoe bend around the towering Namcha Barwa peak, and enters Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang.
  • Further downstream, in Assam, the river becomes the mighty Brahmaputra.
  • In 2017, the government proposed to replace the planned 5,500 MW Siang Upper Stage-I and 3,750 MW Siang Upper Stage-II hydel projects with a single, multi-purpose project of higher capacity — the aforementioned Upper Siang project.
  • Set to be built by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), the project would entail the construction of a 300-metre high dam, the largest in the subcontinent, when completed.
  • According to a November 2022 report by the Central Electrical Authority, there are 29 hydroelectric projects (installed capacity of over 25 MW) in the Siang river basin, with a combined installed capacity of 18,326 MW.
  • The proposed Upper Siang project’s installed capacity is roughly 60% of this figure.
  • But more than its hydropower potential, the dam is being projected as a strategic imperative to counter China’s hydel projects on the Tsangpo.
  • The super dam’s installed capacity is almost three times that of the largest hydropower station on the planet — the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river in China’s Hubei province. It will be used to divert water to China’s water-scarce northern regions.
  • Officials have stated that the Upper Siang project will act as a reservoir to counter the effects of a potentially-reduced flow.
Environmental concerns
  • The proposed Siang mega dam threatens our ancestral abode that hosts delicate ecosystems, wildlife habitats, and biodiversity.
  • Activists are also concerned about the communities that will be displaced due to the project, which they say will submerge more than 300 villages belonging to the Adi tribe, including the Upper Siang district headquarters of Yingkiong.
  • Siang and all the tribal territories of the state [have been the] Ancestral Heritage of our people [for] 1000 of years… generation after generation [has relied] on these rivers for our livelihoods, cultural practices, and sustenance.
  • The proposed dam threatens our way of life.
  •  The NHPC has sanctioned a Rs 325 crore CSR package which will be used for the implementation of livelihood schemes, as well as the development of health, education, and sports infrastructure. MoUs for these activities are currently being signed.
  • Activists, however, are wary of framing the project in national interest terms.
  • They are particularly concerned by a provision of last year’s Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act which exempts from clearance the diversion of forest land for strategic projects within 100 km from India’s borders.
Source- Indian Express

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